Stony Point Town Board meeting addresses improved sewage situation

Stony Point—As the Stony Point Town Board convened for its second meeting of 2016 on Tuesday, January 26, the local sewer system was topic du jour.

The meeting mainly focused on a report by the head of the town Sewer Department, Karl Kirkpatrick. He explained to the board that the town’s sewage equipment is largely in good shape thanks to measures taken in recent years.

According to Kirkpatrick, the department was asked to divert the flow of sewage going to Haverstraw’s sewage plant as far back as 2006, to keep within 1 million gallons of sewage per year, a cap set by the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). After the 1 million gallons, the excess had to be sent to Haverstraw.

Kirkpatrick addressed the board to explain how this issue was corrected by the purchase of a new flow meter for the town. “When we started doing this we were basing our flow on a flow meter from 1969. We had this (new one) put in roughly around 2008. Immediately after we had it put in, the numbers changed,” he said.

Now, Kirkpatrick says, the town is actually only pumping 600,000 gallons per year, well below the DEC limit, while only sending around 3,000 to Haverstraw. This is largely due to the improved measuring capacity of the flow meter, in his view. “It was a saving of about $200,000 per year,” he said on the reduction from the pre-2006 period.

“Everything at the plant is pretty much up-to-date and where we want it to be,” he concluded. Kirkpatrick did ask the town to consider the purchase of new aeration tanks for the town, as the current ones are rotting. He estimates this cost at $40,000.

Stony Point had threatened legal action against the Joint Regional Sewer Board (comprised of sewer districts within the North Rockland area) last year after they threatened to boot Stony Point from the local sewage arrangement over a dispute in costs. Stony Point claimed it was illegal to put residents at risk by booting a town from such a board without time to make better arrangements.
Following the report by Kirkpatrick, it appears the town is almost ready to voluntarily leave the arrangement. The town’s system is working well enough that officials are now considering applying to the DEC for the right to take additional flow.
Supervisor Jim Monaghan led the rest of the meeting as the board passed several administrative measures. The board approved a request to repair a town highway truck and the purchase of another replacement vehicle.

They also renamed Brainerd Court to Brainerd Drive. The street, once a cul-de-sac but now a through-street, has been listed under both names in different maps. This has caused confusion for emergency personnel, Monaghan said the Rockland County 911 Communications Board informed him.

Moreover, the board is accepting resumes for the newly vacant town senior citizens leader position, and allowed three town building and fire inspectors to attend the NYS Building Officials Conference. The board additionally waived the fees for using Kirkbride Hall for the United Women of Rockland and allotted $500 to host the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Finally, the board informed the public that they will request a ruling from the state comptroller on whether there are any requirements or restrictions to newly appointed councilman Mike Puccio’s office. Puccio, who was appointed for a one year term to the council seat vacated by Monaghan, admittedly has a business in Stony Point that does business with the town, although it currently has no such contracts.

Two public hearings were held, as well. Monaghan pointed out new training that will be provided at the Senior Citizen Center, and informed the public again of a January 28 meeting with developer Wayne Corts regarding plans to develop the Stony Point waterfront.